Meditation is not an escape from reality but a way to understand reality as it truly is.

Silence is so much more productive of wisdom and clarity than thinking.

Even if you speak of 'understanding,' this understanding is not a matter of knowledge. It is what fills the entire body and mind.

The five aggregates are not a theoretical model but a description of lived experience to be investigated through mindfulness.

Every moment of mindfulness is a step on the path to liberation. Each step is valuable, no matter how small.

The best way to solve a problem is to help someone else solve their problem.

Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings.

The precious pot containing my riches becomes my teacher in the very moment it breaks.

The dharma wheel turns from the beginning. There is neither excess nor deficiency. The whole universe is moistened with nectar, and the truth is ready to harvest.

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.

Anxiety and excitement are the same emotion. The only difference is our attitude toward the experience.

The truth of suffering is not to be feared but to be understood through direct observation.

The practice of mindfulness is simple: whatever you experience, you observe and note it.

Faith is the firm foundation, diligence the supporting pillar, and wisdom the roof of the house of practice.

Hope and fear come from feeling that we lack something; they come from a sense of poverty. We can't simply relax with ourselves. We hold on to hope, and hope robs us of the present moment.

Through understanding emptiness, one does not become proud of one's virtues, just as one does not become proud of building a castle in the sky.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

Where is the place that your original face has not yet emerged?

The dharma is not outside of you. Looking for it elsewhere is like placing a Buddha on your head while searching for him everywhere else.

The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.

The development of wisdom requires both study and practice, both learning and direct experience.

True happiness comes from a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through cultivation of altruism, of love, of compassion.

The everyday practice is simply to develop complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions.

There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way.

The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.

If you want to know your past life, look at your present condition. If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.

Zazen is not step-by-step meditation. Rather it is simply the easy and pleasant practice of a Buddha, the realization of the Buddha's Wisdom.

The measure of success in spiritual life is how peaceful you are.

The moment you note a thought, it disappears. The noting mind keeps the hindrances away.

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

The way to overcome anger is to be too busy being kind to have time to be angry.

Whatever is dependently co-arisen, that is explained to be emptiness. That, being a dependent designation, is itself the middle way.